I didn't get much sleep last night. In fact, I think
I only got about two hours. This wasn't because I was over-excited by
the thought of today's convention; the reason for my lack of sleep was
a little less emotive. The room Ruth and I were staying in was absolutely
scorching hot during the night and the only way to alleviate the heat
was to open the large bay window. We did this and the air duly cooled
- unfortunately this allowed the excruciating cacophony of Swansea's
night-life in. Every major dance club is within a short vicinity of
the Dragon Hotel and believe me, I could hear every beat.

It was either a choice of boiling through the night,
or being kept awake by The Crazy Frog's extended remix of 'I Lost my
Heart to a Star-ship Trooper'.

However, I am awake, surprisingly refreshed and I cannot believe that
the day has arrived. After nine months in excited pregnant preparation,
I am about to give birth to the first ever British Badfinger Convention,
here in Swansea, where the story first began for our heroes.

I check my mobile phone and there are many text messages: some are good
luck messages from family and friends, others are from convention attendees
with last-minute enquiries. One of these texts rasps, "Where are
the twenty free convention tickets you promised? I went to the Dragon
reception yesterday and the staff said they knew nothing about them!"

After an agreeable continental breakfast, myself and Ruth,
plus our helpers for the day - Laurence, Anne, Alan, Jan, Paul, Jake and
Budgie - head towards the stately Pembrey Suite to start preparing everything
for the forthcoming convention. Doors open at 12 midday and it is now
half past eight. Soon, we are met by Swansea Library's Marilyn Jones and
later, her assistants, Caroline and Claire. The trio will be resurrecting
the Pete Ham Celebration exhibition. It's the first time in six years
it has been seen and you have to credit the trio for helping us out. Saturday
is usually a librarian's day off and they're not being paid overtime…

Allyson Byrne arrives shortly after to put up her display
for our selected charity, Barnardos. Allyson doesn't mess about - her
stand is erected within twenty minutes - but the rest of us have a major
problem, our exhibition boards - all fifty-seven of them - have not arrived
at the appointed time. We have all the material spread out and ready to
mount. All we need now is something to mount them on!

I hope there isn't any misunderstanding with the company involved. I
told their supervisor to have the boards delivered here by nine o'clock
and a cursory glance at my watch tells me it is half past. To make matters
worse, I haven't a contact number for the company because the CD-RW on
which I kept all contact information, appertaining to the event, has been
corrupted somewhere between England and South Wales.

Ruth saves the day by finding the number in the telephone book, but
it's still not great news. Due to staffing problems, the boards will not
be arriving until about ten - our first problem of the day.

When they finally arrive, the convention team help bring
them up the fire escape and into the Pembrey suite. I have to record my
thanks to Paul, Jake, Budgie, but also Simon Thomas, Phil Deere and Steve
Jewell for their help in carrying the bulky boards around the convention
area. Steve says he is used to being asked to move bulky items around
- he does occasional 'roadie' work.

Now it's nose-to-the-grindstone time and the convention
team work like animals to put everything together. I'd put a fairly meticulous
floor plan together some months ago and that's the pattern we work to.
I am well aware that the best laid plans of mice and men can go horribly
wrong, but amazingly, everything has fallen into place - and with half
an hour to spare!

We're ready for the first ever British Badfinger convention!
I've even had T-shirts made for the convention staff and they wear theirs
with much pride.

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In my mind's eye, I'd envisaged a huge queue forming at midday and that
I'd be rushing through the hoards with my clipboard, gleefully crossing
everyone off the guest list. In reality, there are only about ten people
waiting in the upstairs lounge ready to come in. I'll admit to feeling
a little disappointed - I thought people would be gnawing at the leash
to get in.

--------------------------

Marianne Evans is in the reception area and
it's the first time I'd ever met her. It's not hard to see what Tommy
saw in the beautiful Marianne, she really is a larger-than-life character
with a lovely, enigmatic smile. However, Marianne is clearly a woman of
few words: she accepts my kiss on the cheek and smiles politely when I
introduce myself, but no words are spoken. How odd then, that later in
the day when people mentioned me to Marianne, she told them I was a nice
guy - but very quiet!

Terry Cunnett, Marianne Evans

Marianne Evans, Paul Almond

Two of Tommy's cousins, Len and Maxine Perkins, are there,
too, and soon David Evans arrives with wife, Jan. Harry Wright once told
me that Tommy was a very punctual man - it seems his extended family are
following suit.

Steve Jewell, David Evans

Adam Gibbins, Jan Evans

Janet Sears, David Evans, Anne Wallis

Mark Perkins, David Evans, Sean Perkins, Tyler Perkins

Within an hour, the floor-space at the convention is heaving.
The people arriving are like a who's who of Badfinger folklore: Ellie
Gibbins, who brought her friends, Paula and Allen (who recorded with Mike),
plus her two nutty sons, David and Adam, Dan Matovina, Gaynor Gibbins,
Bev Tucker and the ludicrously amicable Bob Jackson who has brought his
family along (wife Chris, daughter Emily and sons Lyle and Jordan). It
seems everyone wants to have a picture taken with the former Badfinger
keyboardist… and being the affable gent he is, Bob happily obliges.

Steve Jewell, Ellie Gibbins, David Gibbins, Adam Gibbins

Terry Cunnett, Ron Griffiths, Ellie Gibbins, Petera Ham

Terry Cunnett, Gaynor Gibbins, Paul Almond

Terry Cunnett, Beverley Tucker

Janet Sears, Dan Matovina

Mark Perkins, Bob Jackson

Bob Jackson

Marianne Evans, Bob Jackson

Petera arrives as lovely and self-effacing as how I'd remembered
her from our first meeting ten years before. She brings her boyfriend,
Raymond, with her. Again, it seems every fan wants to be photographed
with Petera and she couldn't be more accommodating.

Petera Ham, Jake Almond

Janet Sears, Petera Ham

Peggy Burneka, Petera Ham, Raymond Eddie

Alan Wallis, Petera Ham, Anne Wallis

We have two table displays at the convention, surrounded by seating.
The first is given to Swansea Library and holds all the original display
books from the Pete Ham Celebration. The second is used by us and filled
with articles from Badfinger's and The Iveys' careers - from 1969 up to
as recent as we can get. (Credit goes to Jan Sears who helped me type
these up in advance of convention day.)

First generation fans Hilary Hudson, Pat Halstead and Cynthia Harding
spend a lot of time on this particular section - absorbing and reminiscing.

Lee Nicholls, Terry Cunnet, Mark Perkins, Paul Almond

Ron Griffiths, Hilary Hudson, Shirley Halstead, Peggy Hyde

One of the most welcome visitors is Elizabeth Gibbins -
Mike's mother who made it to the convention despite her eighty years.
And she is a livewire, with a great laugh. She is accompanied by Mike's
sisters: Cilla, Marion, Brenda, Joyce, Barbara and Betty. At least I think
all his sisters were there!

Tom Brennan, who runs his own excellent Badfinger website,
arrives with a turquoise Badfinger T-shirt, purchased from Mike and Ellie
Gibbins at the Beatles Convention in New Jersey in 2001. Paul Lochhead
has come from Canada to be at the event, Herman and Marlies Baars have
arrived from Holland, and as previously stated, Fumiko and Masahiro Okumura
have come from Japan. Former Iveys mate, Frankie Bloomfield, who played
in The Jaguars with Ron Griffiths, has arrived from Greece with his wife,
Lin, and unfortunately, he can only stay a few hours because Lin feels
ill. When I speak to the likeable Frankie after the event, however, he
is not disheartened - he says it was worth coming to the convention, if
only for a couple of hours.

Bob Jackson, Tom Brennan

Marlies Baars, Bob Jackson

Dan Matovina, Pat Casey

Roy Anderson, Steve Jewell

Another website host is Pat Richmond, who runs the Mary
Hopkin web page. She has come with her husband, Chris, who is a big Badfinger
fan and is positively transfixed by the sight of the original Revox tape
machine used by Pete to record his demos. Pat tells me she might well
organize a Mary Hopkin convention one day, so fans of the Apple songstress,
keep your eyes peeled…

One of the most aesthetically pleasing aspects of the convention display
for me personally were the large A2 sized lithographs of Pete, Tom, Joey,
Mike, Bob and Ron. Mark Perkins kindly provided me with his excellent
drawings of Pete and Tom well in advance of the day. All I needed was
an artist who would be able to provide line drawings to the standard set
by the Perkmeister.

Sean Perkins, Keith James, Sarah Morris, Tyler Perkins

Sean Perkins, Anne Wallis, Mark Perkins, Tyler Perkins

----------------------

About three months before the convention, I was chatting
to a friend of mine at work - Marie Johannessen - and I happened to
mention this aspect of the convention to her."Well, I used to have
my own business designing greeting cards," she says. "Bring
a photograph of one of the guys and give me a week. I'll see what I
can come up with."

I gave Marie a picture of Mike to take home and, sure enough,
just over a week later she has completed her lithograph - and it is fantastic!
I couldn't have wished for a better finished product. Now, she realizes
she's lumbered, of course, and within three weeks, she has also done excellent
pencil illustrations of Joey and Bob from the photographs I gave her!

And she wouldn't accept a penny from me.

All I need now is someone to provide a drawing of Ron to finish off
the sextet. My step-daughter, Sarah, is the dab-hand with a pencil, so
Ruth and I invited her down for a long weekend and she brings her pencils.
Again, the end product was superb and maintains the quality we've enjoyed
so far.

So many people refer to the drawings. Bob loves his visual representation
and Ron insists on having his photo taken with the drawing and its artist
- Sarah.

---------------------

David 'Tag' Hall is - as everyone knows - the band's former
roadie. I've spoken to Tag many times on the telephone over the years
and he's got an incredible memory for recalling Badfinger anecdotes. This,
however, is the first time we've ever met. With my running around here,
there and everywhere with Badfinger matters, Tag and I have only a few
minutes to chat. He recalls his many games of tennis with Pete and how
Pete was always generous in defeat!

It's obvious that Tag was mightily impressed by Pete, both
as a musician and a man. Tag confides in me that it might be difficult
to keep his emotions in check today. It has been many years since he has
been in touch with some of the people here today. Likewise, former Park
Avenue resident Dave Duffield, and Badfinger crewmen, Tim Boyle and Nicky
Bell.

Tim Boyle, Nicky Bell, David 'Tag' Hall

We had a stall which we used to sell some Badfinger merchandise. The
funds realized will all go towards our featured charity, Barnardo's. A
big thanks from myself, and Allyson Byrne from the charity, go to Alan
Wallis and Anne Wallis who helped man the stand for us.

At the end of the convention, we made £220 for Barnardo's, which
is to everyone's credit.

Soon - all too soon - the day is over and everyone has to
retire to the lounge as we prepare things for the Bob Jackson concert
at nine.